Early playoff exit not part of plan for Flyers

Wayne Simmonds, right, and his Flyers teammates still think they should have gotten past the Rangers in the first round, despite the presence of all-world Henrik Lundqvist in goal for New York.(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

VOORHEES, N.J. — No matter how many more playoff games the New York Rangers will play this spring, Wayne Simmonds isn’t going to change his mind. He stood there encircled by cameras Friday during the Flyers’ annual “Breakup Day” festivities, and regardless of the specific questions concerning his club’s first-round playoff ouster, his answers seemed connected by one common theme...

“It (stinks), honestly,” Simmonds said.

Of course, his wording and his emotions ran deeper than that.

Simmonds did not seem especially taken with the memory of the Flyers’ comeback from a 1-7 start, since it only culminated in a seven-game loss to those Broadway Blueshirts. It wasn’t sour grapes on Simmonds’ part, just a profound belief that this venting of grief didn’t have to happen.

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“It’s not a good situation; it’s not what we wanted,” Simmonds said. “We wanted to be playing right now. You never want to go home with this taste in your mouth, but it’s happening.”

So away they go, these Flyers who seem to be coming of age, even if the final playoff tally didn’t indicate that. They could all agree with Simmonds’ blunt assessment of how it ended, but won’t be able to grow until they come together on the ice in a more consistent manner.

Next chance: Next season.

“We’ve got to understand that we let one slip away,” coach Craig Berube said. “Game 7, I don’t care where you’re playing it, you’ve got to find a way to win that game. And we lost it.”

What must happen in the offseason to reverse the losses of the past and nurture the growth process for this still-young core group is a matter of conjecture for the players. It’s also not their jobs.

“I actually thought the team we had this year, we could have gone past the first round,” Simmonds said. “Obviously it didn’t happen, and that’s up to management. Whatever management wants to do. If they have to make a few tweaks or if they think they have to do some major moves, that’s up to them. That’s not for the players to decide.”

“Obviously, on paper we’re a good team; we’ve just got to go out there and play the game the right way,” said Claude Giroux, the captain who will be entering his seventh season in another five long months. “Team chemistry, I think, is one of the key things this year that we were able to put together, and when we did, that’s when we started winning games.”

After their horrific start last October, the Flyers embarked on a steady rise up the Eastern Conference ladder. The chemistry really came together from mid-December through early February as they got back into playoff contention, then hit a peak in late March after a run of points-producing games against the league’s best competition.

Then April came and the Flyers stumbled, then plateaued. They did slip into the playoffs, but their playing level would never return to where it had been. Now comes an offseason that, as usual, starts with the question, “why?”

“No, I can’t tell you why,” Simmonds said when asked about the playoff loss. “Obviously, it (stinks) right now because I think we could have played better. I think we’re a better team than we showed. We still had a chance, we still got it to the seventh game, and (goalie Steve Mason) stood on his head and gave us a chance to win. We didn’t pull through, so we’ve still got that bitter taste.”

Still swishing around the thoughts of the Rangers moving on instead of his team, Simmonds added, “I still don’t believe they’re the better team. I’ve been saying I have a ton of faith in every guy in this room. I just think we didn’t play our best hockey when it mattered most.”

To that, they would also agree. While there are questions on defense as always, the Flyers do have solid evidence now that Mason is a true No. 1 goaltender, which in this organization is akin to finding a golden fleece.

It’s just that Silver Cup thing that remains a mystery to them.

“To me, we can win a Stanley Cup with the core that’s there right now,” general manager Paul Holmgren said. “I certainly would like to keep that core together for a number of years. Some of them are locked up (contractually) for a few years; Claude, Wayne, Matt Read and (Sean) Couturier are for the next couple of years. They are our core group that we’re going to do everything in our power to hold on to.”

One guy Holmgren left out in that assessment is pending restricted free agent Brayden Schenn. But Holmgren did try to erase any thoughts that Schenn could be tagged as a bargaining chip for potential trade maneuvers.

“Brayden is a good, young player,” Holmgren said. “I want him, like a lot of fans (do), to get better right away. But with any young player sometimes it takes a little bit longer than we’re all prepared to wait.”

With the Flyers, however, patience is key. Let’s see ... it’s now 39 years and counting since the last Cup parade?

That, um, stinks too.

“This organization spends to the cap every year and tries to find ways to be better every year,” Schenn said. “To be out in the first round, it is unacceptable. We do have a young core. ... For us, we’re still looking to get better and get over the hump. Two years ago we got to the second round, this year it was out in the first round. We’ve still got to find a way to get over the hump with our core group of guys we have here.”